In 1913, the British government forced the Beijing government to participate in a tripartite conference of China, Britain and Tibet, namely the Simla Conference held at the behest of the British government.

On July 3, 1914, the Chinese government representative Chen Yifan upon instruction refused to sign the Simla Convention. In his statement, Chen said, "Government of China refuses to recognize any agreement which His Majesty’s Government and Tibet might conclude independently either now or in the future." The Chinese government also sent a note to the British government, reiterating its position.

In the summer of 1942, the Tibetan local government, with the support of the British representative, announced the establishment of a "foreign affairs bureau," and openly carried out "Tibetan independence" activities. These actions, as soon as they were made public, were condemned unanimously by the Chinese people. The national government also issued a stern warning. Under this pressure, the Tibetan local government had no choice but to withdraw its decision and reported the change to the national government

The ROC government had indeed no effective control over Tibet in the year 1912 to 1951; however, in the opinion of the Chinese government, this condition does not represent Tibet’s complete independence as many other parts of China also enjoyed de facto independence when the Chinese nation was torn by warlordism, Japanese invasion, and civil war [18]. China insists that during this period the ROC government continued to maintain sovereignty over Tibet [19][20], and on other occasions Tibet even indicated its willingness to accept subordinate status as part of China provided that Tibetan internal systems were left untouched and provided China relinquished control over a number of important ethnic Tibetan groups in Kham and Amdo [21][22]. Throughout the Kuomintang years, no country gave Tibet diplomatic recognition [23]. Delegates from Tibetan areas attended the Drafting Committee for a new constitution of the Republic of China in 1925, the National Assembly of the Republic of China in 1931; the fourth National Congress of the Kuomintang in 1931; and a National Assembly for drafting a new Chinese constitution in 1946. A "Trade Mission" sent by the Tibetan government attended another National Assembly for drafting a new Chinese constitution in 1948.[20][24]

Wang Gungwu

If you don't have a sense of the past, your future will be diminished. Knowing where you come from, where your roots are, and all those great - and terrible - things that happened in the past, strengthens your identity